It’s even worse when we’re trying to figure out whether there are more enrolments we could offer for our early learning centre in South Dunedin, or how the state of social housing is in North Dunedin.
Are we full because there’s room for a second transition house, or is it one of those seasonal flukes?
Or even why can’t we get government funders interested in the number of young people not in education, employment, or training (NEETs) in Dunedin?
Well now we can know.
The Social Investment Agency has two new tools available: one that looks at New Zealand by region, council, and suburb for age and gender and disability, and deprivation and language spoken at home, and household data, and employment and income data.
The other is a different kind of regional data tool, which also sorts by local authority across life stage data, health, safety, education ... there’s a lot in there.
So now I can find out Otago’s rate of NEETs is 8.6%, lower than the national average of 14.3%. There are places worse off than us.
I can see emergency housing grants in Dunedin peaked at the start of this year and are now as low as they were in early 2022.
And our level of transitional accommodation places is a bit lower than the national average.
This is all information that is worth knowing, as it helps agencies work more closely on the issues that matter.
It’s long overdue, and most welcome.
If you want to have a look, you can find the tools "resources" at www.sia.govt.nz.
If you would like to support the mission’s work with a donation, please visit www.givealittle.co.nz and search for the Methodist Mission.
